LINCOLN- On Wednesday, the Nebraska Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony from a handful of Nebraska organizations who were forced, because of a lack of housing, to turn away more than 5,700 victims attempting to escape domestic violence and human trafficking.

That means thousands of survivors and their children had to remain in danger while waiting for an emergency shelter bed, transitional housing, or other safe havens to open up. "Clearly, there's a problem we need to work on here," said Sen. Wendy DeBoer, "We're not meeting the needs of Nebraskans."

DeBoer kicked off the interim study hearing to bring attention to the issue, but does not yet have a specific legislative proposal. She was joined by leaders of organizations working to help those survivors get out of danger, recover, and build new lives. Among the issue of a lack of adequate housing for survivors was also tightening funding sources, which have made it harder for these organizations to meet the complex needs of survivors.

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